Law blocks records request abuse by inmates

Sat., March 21, 2009

Rachel La Corte Associated Press

OLYMPIA – Jail and prison inmates would be blocked from using public records laws to intimidate or harass state agencies and employees under a measure Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law.

Gregoire signed the bill Friday, the same day the Senate unanimously passed it after concurring with some changes made in the House. The House passed the bill on a 94-2 vote Wednesday.

The measure has an emergency clause and goes into effect immediately.

“What I care about is the harassment that is going on inside the institution by the misuse of the public records request,” Gregoire said after the bill signing. “I don’t want to chill in any way the public’s right to legitimately ask for public records. But I think the misuse and abuse by the inmates is serving to do exactly that.”

Under the bill, government agencies or public employees who are the target of records requests from inmates could bring those requests to a Superior Court judge.

The judge could strike the requests upon finding they are intended to harass or intimidate, or that disclosure of the records would jeopardize security. The judge could also keep the prisoner from making requests for a period of time.

The Department of Corrections and the state lawyers who handle its public records litigation say the measure would dramatically cut the amount of time they spend on frivolous or intimidating requests.

“This bill improves public access to government information by assuring that a few bad actors don’t intentionally overburden public records departments and then file costly lawsuits if they don’t receive every record on time,” Attorney General Rob McKenna said in a written statement Friday.

The measure is in response, in part, to Allan Parmelee, who is serving 17 years for bombing the cars of two attorneys.

Parmelee has filed more than 700 requests in the last two years, and has won thousands of dollars in penalties in cases where the agency fought his requests, but the state has taken steps to apply those fines to his legal obligations.

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